Hardware/Software Requirements a Must

I was intrigued by the article, “ Turn Excel Into a Financial Sleuth ” ( JofA , Aug.03, page 58). I attempted to run the Excel file after downloading it, but was unable to do so. My technical support person said the file required the XP version of Excel to run. This was not mentioned in the article.

When dealing with technology, the JofA should list the hardware and/or software requirements necessary to utilize the tools provided.

I did enjoy the article, and I am looking forward to trying the program after I have the XP version installed.

Sarah D. Espelin, CPA
Seward, Alaska

Authors’ reply: If the Excel version is more than two to three years old, there can be a problem with the code (which takes less than a minute to fix). We are sure this can be easily fixed. We have had about 10 to 12 e-mails from readers with similar troubles—and all of them involved very old versions of large data sets. All of the errors were fixed with very minor changes.

Anna M. Rose and Jacob M. Rose